Headlight pull out switch

[jacwjames]

So I've done some searching and found a pretty good site that explains Carling rocker switch wiring.  https://www.thehulltruth.com/new-wire-marine/513864-carling-contura-rocker-switches-explained.html

Not sure if Monaco used the same method but it should be pretty easy to check.  The site shows that the power going in for the back lighting flows to the the ground. 

So the first thing I'm going to try is adding a ground on a couple of the switches to see if this helps. 

Thoughts??

[Guest Ray Davis]

I'm not seeing how a missing or poor ground is going to cause your problem of excess current.  I'm with Gary, you have a short of some type, or some other device has become inadvertently connected to the dash light circuit.   Have you replaced a rocker sw?  

[Tom Wallis]

I agree with Ray. I doubt your problem has anything to do with the grounds. Here's a thought, the dimmer circuit is only intended to power the lights on the switch. Is it possible that somehow one of those switches is using the dimmer wiring to power the accessory that the switch controls. That could definitely overload the dimmer. 

[jacwjames]

52 minutes ago, Ray Davis said:

I'm not seeing how a missing or poor ground is going to cause your problem of excess current.  I'm with Gary, you have a short of some type, or some other device has become inadvertently connected to the dash light circuit.   Have you replaced a rocker sw?  

I had a problem with this several years ago but never tried to figure out what is going on.  The only other switch that I've replaced is the battery boost switch and put the Blue Sea ML-ACR in it's place, I'll check this but don't think that's the problem, I can pull the wires on it for a quick test.  

I found the wiring connector to the drivers side console and disconnected, this took care of most of those switch lights.  Couple controlled by the individual circuits.

Disconnected the lights in the center console, passenger side console, and entry door.   There were a couple left on the dash but I tried the dimmer/light function and the fuse still blows. 

 

The wiring also goes into the dash but can't really see enough to be able to make heads or tails out it.

 

There are bundles under the drivers side dash where they come up from the DSFRB can't get them separated enough to find a problem.

 

No other circuit seems to be affected, if I do more digging I'm afraid I'll screw something else up. 

 

If there are no other suggestions I think I'll just throw in the towel. 

 

The only switch I normally use is the PacBrake and I can easily find that.   I use my Silverleaf for gauges so I don't need to see the dash (not that I can easily see most of them anyway. 

 

The rest of the switches aren't as important and I can live with it. 

 

3 minutes ago, Tom Wallis said:

I agree with Ray. I doubt your problem has anything to do with the grounds. Here's a thought, the dimmer circuit is only intended to power the lights on the switch. Is it possible that somehow one of those switches is using the dimmer wiring to power the accessory that the switch controls. That could definitely overload the dimmer. 

At this point anything is possible but everything else seems to function even with the fuse blown.   I don't see anything happening for the short time the fuse is in and the dimmer on until the fuse blows. 

[Tom Wallis]

Chasing wires through the looms is usually the very last resort. I think this is how I would go about diagnosing it if possible: disconnect the lamp wire from every switch (I'm hoping they are spade connectors). Then remove the fuse and place an ammeter across the fuse connectors. Hopefully you're at 0 amps now. If not you're probably OK if it's less than an amp or so. Otherwise there are more lights or something else hooked up. This will be the worst case scenario because you'll have to keep searching. If you are down near 0 amps you can begin hooking lights up one by one. When you reach one that has to large of a draw it should be obvious. BTW do this with the dimmer rheostat turned all the way up.

[Gary Cole]

Jim go to the front electric bay and pull every fuse. That will prove whether it is a load or not as Tom suggested. If you still have a problem then take a break and order a circuit tracer for $50. The circuit tracer signal will drop off at the fault to ground. Best $50 you can spend if you plan on doing electrical work on these coaches.

[jacwjames]

Well, I am embarrassed.  I'm going to admit I was wrong mostly to save others the grief of what I've been doing, fixing a self inflicted problem.  

I went back and looked how I had wired the Blue Sea ML-ACR switch on the front dash.  I hooked the ground to the wrong post, the one for the switch light.  Since the Dimmer switch was already burned out it didn't make a difference, there wasn't any voltage.  But when I hooked the dimmer up that's what was blowing the fuse.  After trying to figure out the wiring for the switch lights as soon as I looked at the way I hooked the ground up for the Bluesea switch I knew what the problem was. 

I put a 7.5 amp fuse in to test and it didn't blow.  Hooked everything back up and all looks like it's working.

I guess I learned my lesson.  If something doesn't work go back to the last thing you tried to fix and see what I screwed up 🤬

 

[Dave Pumphrey]

How about checking for a dash light/ lights not working at all, including gauge lights. Do this when it is dark. If one light is shorted, it probably won't light at all...

 

[jacwjames]

3 hours ago, Dave Pumphrey said:

How about checking for a dash light/ lights not working at all, including gauge lights. Do this when it is dark. If one light is shorted, it probably won't light at all...

 

I guess if one switch is shorted the fuse would blow and all the lights wouldn't work.  One of the last things I did was try and isolate the different strings, I disconnected the drivers side console wiring harness, the center console light harness, and removed the wires off the switches at the door and passenger side console.  This only left the dash switches and lights connected.  If the fuse wouldn't have blown I would have then started connecting switches back until the fuse blew. 

But like I said, my problem was self inflicted from when I installed the ML-ACR switch and hooked the ground up to the old light switch base "+" terminal.  Fuse didn't blow because dimmer rheostat was blown.  Not sure how many hours I fooled with this but what should of been a ~20 minute job ended being a _2 day fiasco. 

 

[Robert92867]

I have been in that rats nest a few times.  I always start by pulling the captains chair and the removable panel under the armrest switches.  Also the shroud around the steering column.  From there snip the ty-raps and wear a strong headlamp. Just yesterday I found the nut loose on the firewall ground stud.